Piston and piston-rod.



Pat'ented Feb. 25, m02.A

A. F. RITCHIE. PlsTnN AND PlsTou non.

(Application filed Max'. 7. 1901.)

(Nu-Model.)

'MII I .4o rod located therein.

NITED STATESV PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR F. RITGI'IIE, OF'DULUTH, MINNESOTA.

PISTON AND PISTON-ROD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 694,078, dated February25, 1902.

I Application iiled March 7, 1901. Serial No. 50,241. (No model.)

Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pistonsand Piston- Rods; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled io in the art to which it appertains to make and luse thesame.

My invention relates to improvements in pistons and piston-rods whichmay be ladapted for use and movement in cylinders of suitableconstruction.

It consists in a piston provided with walls or face-plates forming thepressure-surfaces of the piston, the same being spaced apart to form afluid receiving andcontaining chamzo ber, the said chamber being open atthe edges of the piston, so that a iiuid within the same Would impingeupon the inner surface of the cylinder in which the piston moves.

It further consists in a piston of suitable 2 5 construction providedwith an interior chamber for receiving a cooling and packing Iiuid and apiston-rod connected with the said piston and provided with passagesthrough which a fluid may be caused to circulate to and from 3o thepiston, the said fluid` also serving to keep the piston-rod as Well asthe piston at a proper temperature.

It further consists in cert ain other novel con-l structions,combinations, and arrangements 3 5 of parts, as will be hereinafterfully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a vertical central sectionthrough a portion of a cylinder and through a piston and piston- Fig. 2is a detail crosssection taken upon the line 2 2 of Fig. l.

The present invention is designed to provide pistons for cylinders,which ,pistons shall be so constructed that their temperature may V,bemaintained at any desired point and the walls of the cylinder withinwhich the said piston moves may also have their temperature regulated,the means for regulating the temperature of the said piston and the saidcylin- 5o der-walls being also used as a packing interposed between themoving piston and the walls of the cylinder.

In embodying the invention in a practical form I provide the piston lwith face-plates 2 2, which are spaced aparta suitable distance withrespect to a central plate or piston-head 3. A chamber is thus formedbetween each of the face-plates and the piston-head 3. The

face-plates may be connected with the cylinv der-head proper, 3, so asto move therewith and yet aiways maintain the same distance between themby the use of a series of connecting pins or pieces 4 4. Theconnectingpieces 4 4 will be in the nature of a spider, which will holdthe face-plates in position and 'yet will not materially reduce thespaces or chambers between the said face-plates and the piston-head. Theface-plates 2 2 are preferably made to tit c uite snugly in the bore ofthe cylinder 5. The piston-head proper, 3, however, is made ot' lessdiameter than the inner diameter ofV the cylinder, so that an annularspace of suitable dimensions is left between the edgek of the saidpiston-head andthe inner surface of the cylinder 5. A liquid may be thusfree to pass from one side of the piston-head 3 to the other sidethereof. When the chamber in the pistonhead is iilled with a liquid, theliquid will be held in place by the face-plates of the piston and thecylinder-walls. It will be apparent, of course, that the face-plates maybe spaced apart with respect to each other and also with respect to thepiston-head proper by any snitable means-as, for instance, bolts orrivets,

legs or projections secured to either the faceplates or the piston-head,or other similar'v means, all within the spirit of the invention.

In order to introduce and circulate a ternperature-modifying liquid toand Within the piston, I form the piston-rod 7 of a suitable' in whichthe passage 8 is an annular one and is arranged outside the passage 9.These passages are made of approximately the same area, so that a liquidmay be forced into the piston through one of them, and the other onewill form an adequate outlet for the same. The inlet-passage 8 isconnected with any source from which the liquid is to be derived bymeans of a flexible tube, as 11, while the liquid flowing out throughthe outlet-passage 9 will be conducted to any suitable point by means ofa flexible tube 12. It is desirable to make such connections flexible,especially if the piston and piston-rod be movable parts of a mechanism.Other connections possessed of similar functions could, however, beemployed if desired. The construction of the piston rand piston-rod isthus of such character that a temperature-modifying liquid may beintroduced into the chamber in the piston through the inlet-passage 8,passing between the face-plate 2 and the pistonhead proper outwardlyagainst the walls of the cylinder and thence between the other faceplateand the piston-head to the outlet-passage 9. This construction will befound very usefulin all constructions employing rapidlymoving pistons,especially in steam-engines, explosive-gas engines, and the like. Itwill oe evident that a continuous circulation of water or other coolingagents may be maintained through the piston-rod and piston and ,hat thesame will not only moderate the teml)erature of the said parts, but,moving con- ,inually upon the inner surface of the cylinler, will serveto cool and lubricate the same. lhe liquid thus contained between theface- )lates of the piston will also perform another 'unction--namely,the packing or sealing of he movable joint between the piston-head indthe cylinder.

In order to pack the moving joint between he piston-rod and thecylinder, I also conemplate forming a liquid-packing chamber t the pointwhere the piston-rod passes out f the cylinder 5, (indicated at 13 inthe lrawings.) The cylinder may or may not e provided with awater-jacket, as at 14:; ut of course where it is desired to reduce theemperature of the cylinder it is well to emloy such water-jacket. Insuch a case it is asy to supply water or other cooling liquid o thepacking-chamber 13, since it is only ecessary to form the cylinder-head14 hol- )w and connect the chamber formed therein yith the water-jacketof the cylinder, as illusrated inFig. 1, in order to accomplish thisurpose. The space formed in the cylindercad may be somewhat enlarged atthe packlg-chamber 13, so as to present considerable quid-surface to thepiston-rod at this point. f course if a water-jacket is not employed iconnection with the cylinder the cylinderhead could still be providedwith a suitable packing-chamber to receive the packing liquid and thesame could be connected in any suitable manner with a liquid-supplyingreservoir. The liquid supplied to said cylinderhead or water-jacket isof course preferably given a proper circulation to prevent the coolingliquid or agent from becoming itself quickly heated.

From the above description it will be apparent that I am enabled bysimple means to cool or modify the temperature of a piston and cylinderas well as the piston-rod and that the purpose may be readilyaccomplished whether the piston and rod are the movable parts or thecylinder moves with respect to the piston and rod, all within the spiritof the present invention.

I wish it understood that my invention is adapted for use in cooling andheating cylinders or working parts, or for mixing or uniting chemicals,or forlubricating, or for any other similar processes, the principalfeature of the invention being the introduction of a circulating fluidthrough a piston-rod and piston.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A piston provided with face-plates forming the pressure-surfaces ofthe piston, and means for spacing said faces apart to form a liquidreceiving and containing chamber in the piston, the said chamber beingentirely open from the piston-rod to the cylinder-walls so that theliquid in the said chamber may be permitted to engage the inner surfaceof a cylinder within which the piston is caused to move, substantiallyas described.

2. The combination with a'cylinder, of a piston within the same formedwith a pistonhead proper, face-plates arranged upon either side of saidhead, and means for spacing the face-plates from the said piston-head toform a liquid receiving and containing chamber in the piston, the saidchamber being entirely open from the piston-rod to the cylinder-walls sothat a fluid may be caused to circulate around the said piston-headbetween the faceplates, a piston-rod connected with the piston, the saidpiston-rod being formed with inlet and outlet passages, and flexiblemeans for connecting the passages with a fluid-supply and afluid-discharge, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aiiix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

ARTHUR F. RITCI'IIE.

IOO

